ADRIAN — Fighting a bill for nearly $6,000 in back property taxes was added last month to the list of things Gregg Arbaugh is helping his aging parents handle.

Although they have owned and lived in the same house in Adrian Township since the 1970s, their homestead property tax exemption — also called a primary residence exemption — was revoked by the Michigan Department of Treasury.

His parents’ home is one of 245 parcels in Lenawee County that have been mailed additional tax bills since the state began an audit of homestead, or principal residence exemptions in Lenawee County. Homes that property owners live in are exempt from paying the state’s 18-mill local school property tax that was created in the 1994 school finance reforms.

Arbaugh said the homestead denial for his parents’ house is an error that may have resulted from his having the same name as his father and by having their property tax bills mailed to his home in Schoolcraft.

An appeal has been filed that he was told could take up to a year. He is being advised, he said, to the pay the back taxes and have the money refunded later.

“We have no interest in paying somebody for their error,” Arbaugh said.

“I think this thing is going to go away as soon as somebody opens it and takes a look at it,” he said. He said he filed about 15 documents showing proof the house is where his parents live. But no one seems willing to look at the case ahead of hundreds of others in line for review, he said.

Many Lenawee County property owners receiving bills for back taxes because of the state’s audit have telephoned Lenawee County Treasurer Marilyn Woods to complain.

“Oh, yeah,” Woods said.

Bills she has had to mail out are as large as $10,000. But there is little Woods can offer to callers who believe the tax bills are wrong.

“We just tell them they have to contact the state to appeal,” she said.

The tax payments, meanwhile, are due 60 days from the billing date, Woods said. After that, she said, penalties are added and the amount becomes part of a delinquent tax on the property.

The bills are canceled if an appeal reinstates the homestead exemption, with no cost to the property owner, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury. If the property owner is eventually determined to owe the back taxes, however, there is a 1.25 percent monthly interest rate and administration fees added on.

A frequently asked questions document on the treasury department’s website says it can take “several months to a year” for the appeal process to be completed.

Page 2 of 2 - County administrator and equalization director Martin Marshall said he sent a letter of support for Arbaugh’s case. It is not clear if that will speed up the review process, however, he said.

“It’s an unfortunate circumstance that his parents’ property has been caught up in,” Marshall said.

Lenawee County has been doing its own audits of homestead exemptions for years, he said, which has delayed the state from doing its own review here. Marshall said he believes local and county assessors have been “reasonably successful” with internal audits of the 40,000 parcels of property in the county and does not expect substantial changes in homestead exemptions once the process is completed.